Alternative Worlds
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Dzur
Steven Brust
Tor, Aug 2006, $24.95
ISBN: 0765301482
As he sits in a restaurant in Adrilankha preparing to confront the House of the Left Hand of the Jhereg, Vlad Taltos thinks back to when everything changed. He was an assassin working for Neilar chasing after one of his employees who stole money from him as Vlad allows no one to cheat him and live to tell it. He followed his mark to Castle Black, the floating home of Morollan the dangerous Dragaeran lord.
At Castle Black, Vlad meets its owner and Lady Sethra the vampiress host of Dzur Castle. After a near deadly incident between them, Morollan and Sethra offer Vlad work to obtain a staff that contains the ensnared soul of Dragaeran’s cousin Aliera. He succeeds barely as he is out of his element. However, Sethra insists though he did an admirable job, the work is not done. She demands that Vlad journey to the terrifying Paths of the Dead to beg the gods to restore Aliera to life.
Though not as powerful as TECKLA, Vlad’s fourth appearance is a fast-paced tale that takes the reader back to Taltos’s salad days. The prime story line focuses on Vlad’s first encounters with Morollan, Sethra, and Aliera (though she initially is a bit wooden), etc. However that prime plot is enhanced by glimpses of the assassin’s childhood, which are fun to read, but feel like cul de sacs off the main road. Still sort of a biographical fiction, DZUR is a fine entry that Steven Brust’s fans will fully appreciate for its light into what made Taltos what he is.
Steven Brust
Tor, Aug 2006, $24.95
ISBN: 0765301482
As he sits in a restaurant in Adrilankha preparing to confront the House of the Left Hand of the Jhereg, Vlad Taltos thinks back to when everything changed. He was an assassin working for Neilar chasing after one of his employees who stole money from him as Vlad allows no one to cheat him and live to tell it. He followed his mark to Castle Black, the floating home of Morollan the dangerous Dragaeran lord.
At Castle Black, Vlad meets its owner and Lady Sethra the vampiress host of Dzur Castle. After a near deadly incident between them, Morollan and Sethra offer Vlad work to obtain a staff that contains the ensnared soul of Dragaeran’s cousin Aliera. He succeeds barely as he is out of his element. However, Sethra insists though he did an admirable job, the work is not done. She demands that Vlad journey to the terrifying Paths of the Dead to beg the gods to restore Aliera to life.
Though not as powerful as TECKLA, Vlad’s fourth appearance is a fast-paced tale that takes the reader back to Taltos’s salad days. The prime story line focuses on Vlad’s first encounters with Morollan, Sethra, and Aliera (though she initially is a bit wooden), etc. However that prime plot is enhanced by glimpses of the assassin’s childhood, which are fun to read, but feel like cul de sacs off the main road. Still sort of a biographical fiction, DZUR is a fine entry that Steven Brust’s fans will fully appreciate for its light into what made Taltos what he is.